The Frozen Soldier
by MBVfan500
Summary: When the Avengers trek into the cold Canadian wilderness, they find they might not only freeze, but the memories they've fought to suppress might just surface. WARNING: Some Romanogers will be thrown in:)
1. Capsicle

For weeks now, the Avengers have been scouting the Canadian wilderness for Agent Coulson, since it had been said by Director Fury that he was still alive. Everyone assumes Nick Fury has died... all except the Avengers, and Agent Coulson. As of recently, Fury had been contacted by Agent Coulson, who had confirmed agents of shield have gone over to HYDRA. All except his team. Now, Steve Rogers has been ordered by Fury to gather the Avengers for yet another detect-and-destroy mission.

Tony Stark hikes up the icy hill, the grass damp and frozen with fresh powder. "Are we almost there? Because I was in the middle of reconstructing my tower when you called and said, and I quote; 'Agent Coulson is alive.'"

Steve sighs as he pushes through wet icy marsh, all the while holding tightly to his shield. "I know. I did, and he is."

Tony tilts his head as he stares at Steve through squinted eyes. "Well then, where is he, cap? Because all I've found so far is wet, icy grass that goes on for miles and miles, along with pine trees coated in fresh powder that seem to never end."

Natasha releases a sigh as she passes Tony. "Relax Stark, I'm sure Rogers knows what he's doing."

Tony nods, frowning. "Yes, I'm sure he knows what HE's doing, but does he know what he's suppose to do?"

Bruce stops next to Tony, breathing heavily and squinting as he peers through the cold thick fog. "Look, I've no doubt Steve is under orders. But my question is, who's?"

Steve stops, and turns on his heel. "I told you. Fury's."

Bruce nods. "Yes, but I mean who's. As in, HYDRA's, or SHIELD's? I mean, sure, Fury could've ordered you to search the icy forests of Canada and simply told you it was a search and rescue mission for the one person we thought was dead, and are now told otherwise. But, what if he's just sending us on our merry way into HYDRA's headquarters?"

Steve looks from Bruce to Natasha. She shares his gaze if only for a second before averting her eyes. "You saying," Steve exhales a sharp breath. His lungs ache as he draws a deep breath, inhaling the cold Canada air. "We've been set up?"

Bruce exchanges a look with Tony, who then looks to Clint. He stares at Steve, but doesn't say a word. In his mind, he's keeping the idea open. But in Steve's, he's already answered a question he was never even asked.

They continue to push through as the wind grows harsher. Finally, after walking through cold grass, and icy winds, they've reached a lake that has frozen over.

Steve stops just inches from the frozen waters. As his eyes scan the surface, he can see images of that moment when he'd piloted that jet into the frozen ocean flash before his eyes. He can hear the jet's engines roaring as he tries to pilot the aircraft straight into the ice. He can suddenly feel the shaking of the craft as he grips tightly to its controls.

_"You know, I still don't know how to dance." _

Steve's eyes begin to sting as he focuses all his attention on that dreadful moment.

_"I'll show you how. Just be there." _

His fists ball and the leather of his shield's strap begins to crack.

_"We'll have the band play something slow." _

His pulse quickens as he begins to see a ghost of the scene happen before him. Replaying it in his head like a movie on rewind.

_"I'd hate to step on your-"_

And like he was experiencing the crash all over again, he drops to his knees. His shield scrapes the ice as he presses both his palms to steady himself. He releases short breaths as he stares into the ice, his whole body trembling. He can feel his chest closing in, restricting him from breathing, and yet he still can.

"Steve." He feels a small hand grasp his shoulder. "Steve."

Her worried voice snaps him back into reality as her face comes into view. He turns his head ever so slowly to steal a glance, his neck feeling at any moment it could crack like an icicle and his throat feeling like it's about to close up at the slightest movement. "Natasha," He says through clenched teeth, his throat aggravated by the name he fights to hold in.

Her fingers brush the hairs on the back of his neck, her palm pressed to it. "Steve. It's alright." She cups the side of his face, turning his head to look at her. "I'm right here. I promise. You'll be fine."

He holds his breath, every muscle in his body now tense.

As Natasha tries to console Steve, Tony notices a hairline fracture spreading throughout the ice like a spider web being woven by Steve's shield. "Uh, guys."

Bruce follows Tony's gaze down to the slowly cracking ice, as does Clint's, and soon... Natasha's. Instead of alarming Steve with a shout, she continues to draw circles with her palm on Steve's back. "It's, it's gonna be okay Steve." Though sporting a calm front, her voice starts to crack. Steve apparently notices, and focuses on her with worried eyes.

Bruce takes a step closer, and Steve suddenly feels the ice shift. He follows the lines that run along the ice, following the growing lines until his gaze stops at his shield where the fractures in the ice seem to start. As soon as he turns, pressing his right knee to the ice and lifting his left knee off of it, the ice parts and he falls in.

"Steve!" Natasha shouts as she watches him sink further into the icy waters below.

"Alright, everyone back!" Tony shouts, waving his arms behind him. He, Bruce and Clint step back, but Natasha fights back tears, swallows though her throat feels tight, and with one last breath of the cold icy winds that bite at her lungs, she dives into the icy waters.

"Natasha!" Clint shouts, stepping forward. Bruce holds him back with one arm, and shakes his head as his eyes focus on the icy formations that begin to drift further apart.

In the cold Canadian waters, Steve flails his arms and legs in a panic. His eyes are closed as he gurgles silent helps that only form bubbles instead of words. Natasha swims down into the icy darkness, her only light and way of finding Steve, the glint of the overcast afternoon sky off of his star spangled American flag shield. Though the water is freezing, she presses the fact to the back of her mind and presses on. Though her lungs ache from the breath that she holds in so desperately it feels like a knife cutting through her chest, she keeps it held behind cringed teeth.

When she finally finds Steve, he seems to be unconscious, maybe the cold waters have strained his muscles and rendered him weary because she knows he's strong enough to hold his breath for a while. Seventy years to be exact.

She grips a hold of the strap of his uniform, and pulls him up. His whole body glides along the currents, making it easier on Natasha as she swims to the surface while lugging Captain America along.

With one trembling hand, Natasha grips onto the ice sheet of whatever's left of the glacier, pulling herself up. Clint runs to her side, and takes her trembling hand in his, pulling the rest of her onto the surface. When she's pulled out of the water, so is Steve.

Though the icy cold of the howling wind bites at her wet skin, and her sopping wet winter coat only seems to make matters worse, chilling her to the bone, she sits up. Her eyes scan the ice for Steve, and when her gaze falls on the trembling super soldier, she runs to his side. "St-St-Steve."

He draws short breaths through clenched teeth, and pulls his balled fists up to his throat as if to tighten the collar of an imaginary coat. Natasha pushes a strand of hair matted to his forehead aside. "Y-you-you s-s-saved me."

She smiles, releasing short breaths. "You-you said you trust-ed me t-to. I-I couldn't let you down."

The corner of his mouth twitches as he forces the muscles in his face to smile.

Tony releases a loud sigh. "Well, if anyone else feels like freezing to death, may I suggest we at least trudge further in hopes of finding a Starbucks?" Clint releases a short breath through his nostrils, Bruce just smiles and turns away. Tony scans each of their faces until his gaze falls on Steve. "What do you say, cap? Spend another seventy years on ice, or try and find something out here before we all get frostbite?"

Steve steals a glance at Natasha. Though she smiles, worry had never left her eyes. But that suffocating feeling of being frozen into an ice cube like Bucky once was has never left him either, nor will it. Ever.

He swallows the growing lump in his throat, and works on slowing his panting. "Let's do it." He inhales a sharp breath, the icy air nearly freezing his lungs. "March forward, I mean. Not, freeze to death."

"Or at least to seventy years, anyway." adds Clint, earning a glare from Natasha, but a pained chuckle from Steve.

Tony offers Steve his hand. Trembling, he forces his fist open, and grabs onto it. "Then lead us foward... capsicle."


	2. You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost

After a few more hours hiking through treacherous snow, the harsh winds kick up and force millions of snowflakes to travel at them all at once.

Steve forces his shield up, blocking the strong blizzard. Though Natasha protested, he dove back into the wintry waters beneath the glacier, searching for it. He found it, after about a half an hour of looking.

"Well," Tony sighs. "We haven't stumbled across a Starbucks. But the good news is I've only lost two toes and about three fingers."

Bruce raises his hand, all four of his fingers stiff while the only opposable finger left is his thumb. "Well, I think I've lost feeling in about... three toes. And I can almost guarantee four of my fingers have been bitten by Jack Frost."

Clint chuckles. His hands clamped onto each of his biceps as he cringes his teeth. "Well, being that I've lent my jacket to Natasha, and my entire abdomen has now gone completely numb, my arms being included... I'd say I pretty much win that round of, who's ready to die."

Natasha stumbles through the snow, her legs growing numb. She pushes her right foot down into the fresh powder, her foot immediately sinks. She goes to take another step when she loses her balance and falls into Steve. He catches her. "Nat."

"Nah, I think Red's got you beat." comments Tony.

Natasha leans her head against Steve's shoulder. "St-St-S-S-Steve." She breaths his name through cracked lips.

Steve feels her forehead pressed against his neck as her head rolls to the side. "Nat." He turns to the others. "Her skin's ice cold."

Natasha stares up at him with weary eyes, all the strength in her body suddenly fading as her muscles grow tense and weak through the cold.

Steve wraps one arm around her waist, catching her just as she collapses. He raises his shield higher to block the both of them from the blizzard that slowly starts to turns from a fresh powder to a hail storm.

As the wind kicks up and the hail starts peeling the flesh from their faces, Steve grabs a hold of a nearly unconscious Natasha and stumbles forward. "Shit," he curses. He digs his heels into the snow that starts to frost over, wind begins to slowly push him back, hail begins flying at his shield like bullets unloaded from a pistol. "The storm's kicking up, we need to get out of here or were gonna get blown away."

Clint digs his fingertips into the icy cracks of the snowy marsh, the tips of his shoes scrape against fresh ice. "The one time we actually need one of your suits, and you forget to bring one." He says to Stark.

Tony blinks away the few snowflakes that cloud his vision as he forces his head up. "First of all, this is not the first time you've needed mine and Jarvis's help. Second," He swallows hard as he fights to draw a breath despite the raging storm that objects. "I... haven't exactly gotten around to building another."

Bruce fights to push through the millions of pieces of hail the size of quarters that hurl at him. "Another Jarvis?"

Tony scoffs. "Of course not another Jarvis, there's only one Jarvis. I meant," he slides back, the sole of his shoe leaves a black scuff mark on the grounded up ice. "Suit."

But apparently Bruce didn't hear him, because he stopped trudging through the deep in snow, and stared at Tony with squinted eyes. "What?"

Tony presses his lips in a straight line as he fights the urge to call out the OTHER guy, maybe HE'd hear him. "Suit!" He shouts just as the wind kicks up.

Bruce leans his ear in. "What?" He calls to Tony.

Stark is about to answer, when his voice is drowned out. Not by the raging wind, or the hail increasing in size and speed, but rather the sound of a vehicle. An engine, humming - no - roaring. Very loudly.

He stops and stands there, kneeling atop the freezing ice. He peers through the swirling wind of hail, and sees two floating yellow orbs. No, not floating... They're attached to something. A truck. No. A... A bus. "Is that a-" before he can even finish, he's blown back by the wind. No, not the wind. The vehicle itself. His abdomen aches as he turns on his side. His ribs are no doubt bruised, if not fractured.

As the vehicle makes another round, it takes a sharp turn. The vehicle jerks as its tires skid across the ice. When the vehicle comes to a halt, its tires finally finding a grip, it charges forward.

Steve's eyes widen as it's headed straight for him and Natasha. He hurls his shield at the car. It scrapes the front bumper and lodges itself into the top part of the hood.

Steve scoops Natasha up into his arms. But, even with all the strength he can muster up, it's still not enough to beat the protesting winds.

Tires screech as smoke billows around the vehicle. Steve gets down on one knee, bows his head and holds Natasha to his chest, hoping if he covers her she won't be badly injured.

As the sound of the roaring engine nears, it suddenly stops. Ending with a loud crash of steel on something else. Suddenly he hears a monstrous roar. Steve looks up, curious as to what could have stopped the charging van.

In front of Steve stands the big green guy. His muscles flex as he sets the bus down and pushes it back with full force. It disappears behind the icy storm.

Hulk turns to Steve, who nods his thank. Hulk mirrors Steve's reaction. He then scoops both Steve and Natasha up into his arms, and runs into the storm.

Behind them, they can hear a faint shout, no doubt murmured by Tony. "Its fine, we'll catch up."

Hulk runs as fast as he can, his feet breaks through the snow and reaches ground. In his wake, he leaves monster sized steps surrounded by ice but padded by soft damp grass.

Steve cups the side of Natasha's face, his hand glides up to her forehead, her skin feels as cold as ice. She shivers at his touch. He draws her closer, wrapping his arms tightly around her, hoping to conceal enough body heat until they find a warm place to thaw. "Faster, Hulk!"

Hulk grimaces as he fights through the cold and pain of icicles that dig into his feet and hail that seems to be peeling off his skin. It feels like he's walking through a field of legos while being pummeled at with shards of glass.

Just as Hulk feels he's growing weaker, something grabs his attention. It's as big as a person, and it's rising from the ground.

It's silver glint alerts Steve and he ducks his head. "Hulk, stop! That's a-" but before he can finish, Hulk smashes his left side into the machine gun.

Steve winces as bullets start to unload. Hulk quickly recovers from the machine gun's harsh impact, and hugs Steve and Natasha with one arm as his other tears the machine gun out of the ground. He then tosses it behind him, and steps forward.

"Stop!" calls a voice through a muffled speaker. "Who goes there?"

Hulk releases Steve, allowing him to jump down.

Steve stands in front of the icy mountain, a trembling Natasha in his arms. "This is Steve Rogers. And we need help."

For a few seconds, the speaker remains silent. The only audible sound, the howling wind as it whistles, and the light tapping of hail against the ice beneath their feet.

Suddenly, doors open. Not by choice, but by the lightning that crashes against their steel. Fresh padding of ice and snow slide down their slick surface, revealing SHIELD'S logo. Not like you could tell unless you looked extremely close, as even that is now burnt to a crisp. Off to their right they hear the sound of something heavy hit the ground, followed by the silent clatter of metal.

Dressed in full armor, stands their favorite Asgardian. In his hand, he wields his metal hammer, it's steel still tingling with lightning.

"Aw man!" out of the wreck of steel and flames steps a man in a suit and tie. He assesses the damage. "Well that's never gonna close again." He turns to Thor. Waving his arm at the mess, he creases his brow. "Why? Why do this?"

Thor grips tightly to his hammer. "You were not opening the door. My friends were in need of help."

The man stares down at the mess and back up at Thor. "You didn't have to destroy our facilities."

Steve draws a breath. "You were shooting at us."

"We didn't know who you were."

"We told you."

"Yeah but-"

"Stop." says a voice.

Steve stares into the darkness, when out steps the whole reason they're here. "Agent Coulson."

Hulk, Steve and Thor stare in shock at their friend risen from the grave.

The agent is dressed in his usual apparel, suit and tie. His hands are shoved in his pockets and a faint smile plays on his lips. "Captain Rogers, you look like you've seen a ghost."


End file.
